Oftentimes, when a really talented, serious actor has a stint on SNL, it’s hit or miss (well, as much of a hit as SNL can have). In the case of Anne Hathaway, her well-studied skills made for a pretty decent thud. Despite the fact that the show recycled a few bits (again) for the Hathaway-fueled episode, it wasn’t as stale as it could have been. Here’s why her appearance this weekend wasn’t that painful to watch.
Vanessa Bayer comes back with round two of The Miley Cyrus Show, where she once again aptly captures the inanity of pretty much everything that comes out of the Hannah Montana star’s mouth, but we were expecting that. What I didn’t expect was Hathaway’s ability to parody the breathy, hesitant speech of actress and Tom Cruise drone Katie Holmes.
Kristen Wiig’s Penelope is also back, and she’s up to her usual antics. They’re a little stale at this point, but the payoff in the one-uppers skits always comes when the star du-jour finally flips their lid and does their best spastic Penelope impression. It’s a brief moment, but as much as I love Wiig it’s the moment we’re all waiting for and Hathaway handles it brilliantly.
With all the buzz about Prince William’s engagement and Hathaway’s knack for the British accent, of course the writers made room to poke fun at all the hullabaloo. Hathaway does her best Kate Middleton (boring, pretty British girl) and finds out that the family she’s marrying into is less like The Princess Diaries and more like a scene out Snatch.
And for the first time in a long while, Seth Meyers actually induced some laughter on Weekend Update with a segment called Come on, Dictionary in a diatribe against the Oxford English Dictionary’s choice to include Sarah Palin’s accidental new word, “refudiate,” in the latest edition of the dictionary. It’s in the vein of one of my favorite segments – Really?!? With Seth and Amy – so score one, Seth.
Bill Hader (who thankfully makes a few more appearances in this episode) aptly plays an ancient news reporter who’s gone senile and can’t manage to complete the interview, while Hathaway supports the madness with a pretty accurate New York accent. Of course, the real star of the skit is Hader, but Hathaway does a pretty good job.
Just in time for Thanksgiving, SNL gives us Black Friday on steroids, sponsored by banned alcoholic and caffeine riddled beverage, Four Loko – “America’s Hillbilly and Cholo fuel.” The skit pokes fun at the extreme hazards that stores like Walmart present when they offer incredible, short lived deals the morning after Thanksgiving, but like all SNL skits, the gag goes on too long. The best part is Anne Hathaway’s rabid shopper, Janice Wrust, on an early morning Four Loko high.
Last but not least, Kristen Wiig stars in a fake commercial about the woes of camel toe. Sticking with the tradition of feminine product parodies on SNL, the ladies advertise the solution: Camel Tame. Too bad it creates a whole other issue for ladies…luckily Hathaway didn’t lend her classy talents to this crass faux ad.
